One of the things I was trying to do in starting a poetry center in Paterson was to involve as many people as possible in loving poetry the way I love poetry. I wanted them interested in poetry as readers, listeners, and writers.
I’ve read my poems in Italy and other countries, and I found that there are a lot of poetry communities all over the world. Why not in Paterson, New Jersey? It is where I grew up but it has a rich history including Allen Ginsberg and William Carlos Williams.
I love conducting a poetry workshop in-person but after the COVID pandemic when we started doing readings and workshops virtually, I realized there were some advantages. We could reach an audience who would never come to Paterson either because it was at a distance or because they just were not comfortable going out to events. I have had people do a workshop with me in Italy and then because of that connection, they come to my workshops in the United States on Zoom.
The past year and this year we have split our reading series from the Poetry Center between in-person and virtual readings and workshops in the hope of offering something that suits different needs.
